Advent 7 The Great Shift

[HKHaugan]

Advent 7 The Great Shift

 As we have been quick to repeat, the Gospel of John is getting us to think spiritually. Everything that is physical points to a spiritual parallel. When we get that point that’s when we start growing. If you check all the lives of converted people in the New Testament, it’s what they were converted from spiritually that set the movement for bringing faith as the primary shaper of character and behavior. It was not what they centered on in terms of appearance and possessions. It was on what had happened to them because Jesus came into their lives.   They saw life in the world from His vantage point, from His perspective. “Seek first the Kingdom of God…” “Love one another as I have loved you…” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…” “As the Father has sent me that is the way I am sending you…” “Man looks on outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart…” “God is Spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth…” “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”

 From the time we were born everything was about physical survival, physical appearance, physical power, physical position and physical possessions. That is due to sin, the disease behind self-centeredness. These were the answers to living in a social atmosphere. It’s how we think, talk and act, the identity we want people to see in us. The basic principle is this: what any social situation requires, read it, and fit in. Sin at work. That’s true from the simple adolescent gang to the corporate boardroom. It’s how your visible presence, your speech, your dress and your expressions fit in. These visible things motivated us and the invisible in us, the process of motivation, choice and decision, was captivated, enslaved to those things because of sin. That was the world from which Jesus came to free us and it is the world into which each of us came.

 But the fly in the ointment of the world’s standards, the dust that irritates our social eyes, the nagging stubbed toe inhibiting our movement, was and is death, physical, personal and relational. The sting of death is sin and its taste is rejection, aloneness, guilt and the lack of recognition. It’s that dreaded end of life, that which we try and put off and don’t want to think about. It’s that feeling when you are the last one chosen to play on a team, overlooked when you deserve a promotion, being in line and someone behind you gets the call to come in, when anyone gets a bigger piece of whatever. It’s all a taste of death. Death in itself tells us that there is more to life than our physical being. The yearning for life, self-preservation and being noticed show that there is more than an abrupt end.

 There are three things we don’t consider as we move about in the world of people:

First, all Creation came out of God who is Spirit. Everything is spiritually created including mankind, man and woman.

Second, each person is an invisible spiritual being, an image of God, living in a physical body.

Third, the very process of daily living is a spiritual process of choice, decision and their motivation.

 I could add more, like the ability to make a choice, to be relational, to have an emotionality, to think, to desire good as opposed to evil and the very idea of goodness and evil as contrasts, as well as morality in general.

 But these are introduced through three basic abilities with which they are born, belief, trust and faith. The question in all of them is this, who and what determines how they are used? Right here is where Jesus comes on the scene and tells us that we need to shift the way we do business. Everyone has a belief system they trust that enables them to decide how they should live everyday life. It’s what an image of God does…belief, trust and faith. Belief is in something or someone. Trust in what you believe shapes the attitude of your heart and that in turn gives you the faith to act out what you believe and trust.

 It makes no difference what your occupation is, what your hobbies are, how you spend your time and money, where you put your energy, your dreams and plans. Belief, trust and faith determine your identity and the course of your life. You can be a scientist, a doctor, a husband, wife, own a business, work for someone, retired, single, child or whatever, you still will use those three abilities to process your life. Again, the basic question. Who do you believe in, trust in your heart, walk in faith to guide you, to keep those three in balance? For those who are believers in Jesus, you have a head start. But you may need a bit of encouragement to practice putting things together spiritually before you act. To give you a trusted frame of reference, Jesus is the perfect balance of belief, trust and faith. He is the perfect example of the way we process our daily life. As Scripture says, He is the exact representation, image of God, in the flesh.

 Jesus spiritually processed everything according the spiritual will of His Father. He was the living spiritual reality of the Scripture spiritually faithfully followed and fulfilled. He showed us that everything is basically sourced in the Spirit, therefore we need to process everything spiritually and that means ‘everything.’ If we talk about the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, it is absolutely necessary we embrace the Great Shift, the shift from thinking the way the world thinks to thinking spiritually the way God thinks. The way, the truth and the life Jesus declares Himself to be, are spiritual. He is the presence of the spiritual Creator. The seen and unseen Creation are His footprints; the products of a spiritual mind, a spiritual heart and a Holy Spirit. In order for us to take part in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission we need first to make sure the Great Shift is in place. It’s really something to think about.